Time Falls Like Snow
by shinraui1243
Summary: They had won. They had defeated the evil, slain the villains, and stopped their plans. But in the end, nothing mattered, Remnant to broken to ever be fixed. Weiss Schnee, the last of them, refused to let go though. If the present couldn't be fixed, then perhaps the past was the next step. Set after Vol 3, then before...
**Hey all, how we doing today? Good? Good, cause it's story time!**

 **I'm not gonna make a huge opening out of this, but just be aware that this is the opening for what should be a long story. I look forward to seeing your tears. Tears of joy I mean, yes, definitely no sadness here, just happy times for all.**

 **Without further ado (however one ado's), let us begin. Oh, and I don't own RWBY, that belongs to RT and Monty Oum, rest in peace.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Endless Snowflakes**

How does one live in their own personal hell? How do you survive knowing all of your worst fears have come to life? How do you go on when you are all alone?

To be fair, Weiss didn't real feel like she was alive at the moment. She hadn't felt much in the last year between the constant heartache and the dull echoes of just barely existing. Metallic blue eyes silently focused on her task, glowing with singular purpose. Reflected in them was a shimmering golden cube nearly six feet in height and width, its surface almost completely flat barring numerous small holes and missing parts. Surrounding it were a few dozen tiny glyphs of a variety of colors, each flitting about and adding the smallest streams of dust to the imperfections from various nearby canisters. The cube was adorned with silver clock faces that never seemed to come full circle. Instead, they spiraled away from themselves, intersecting with each other endlessly, unique snowflakes adorning each one.

In another time, this singular cube would have been held as the pinnacle of Dust manipulation, rivaled by nothing else. To have encapsulated time itself and given it form, meaning, and purpose was a feat worthy of legends. It defied all known rules, limits, and feasibility concerns known to man. It was…eerily beautiful, in its own way.

Weiss thought nothing of this though, her mind focused on completing the work of this last long year. Her concentration was marginally interrupted with the sound of an air raid horn ringing far in the distance. Sparing only the briefest of glances, the heiress (not that there was anything left to inherit, but she hardly cared anymore) looked out over the city of Mistral. She caught sight of a plume of smoke arising from one of the weaker parts of the outer wall, followed by two bird-like shadows circling above. _Two Nevermores, likely to be followed by a few dozen Grimm of varied sorts. They do not need me._ Weiss turned back from the sight, focusing once again on the time cube as her tiny glyphs sprouted back into existence.

Though she tried to convince herself that she was right, Weiss knew that she was sorely needed out there. Even with the best weapons and forces they had, the defenders of the city would not be able to hold this most recent incursion without some casualties. It was the same every time; the Grimm would come, invade the city only to be pushed back, then return to the nearby wild lands to recuperate and try again in a week or so. While the defenders would try and reinforce the breach, it would never be perfect. Each time, the Grimm got further in, killed more people, and destroyed more of the Last City. It was a vicious cycle, one that had a definite end that could not be stopped, only delayed.

That Weiss could delay it longer by fighting made no difference in the end. She was of more use her, in the solitude of her chamber, with her dust and possessions. Her right hand absentmindedly found its way to her left, fingers lightly brushing against a band of metal on her ring finger. It was a simple thing, and yet it meant the world to her, now more than ever before. The band of tarnished gold was blank, save for a single etching of a ruby on its top. The etching was filled with white diamond, giving it a beautiful, refractive surface. Weiss wondered what Ruby would say if she saw her now, alone and wallowing in-

"NO!" Weiss screamed, falling to her knees, her breath heaving. The glyphs stopped suddenly as the heiress fought with herself, trying to bring her mind back under control. _I'm not going to think about her, I don't have the choice, I don't have the RIGHT…_

Fumbling around, she brought her hands to the chain around her neck, grasping for it clumsily. Finally she managed to grab the adornment, shakily holding it as she looked down. Held in her palms was a nearly identical ring, made of the burnt gold. However, instead of a white rose etching, this one instead was marked with a single snowflake, its lines filled with red rubies instead. Drawing stuttering breaths, Weiss focused back on happier memories, just like her doctor had advised. It was difficult, like trying to breathe while suffocating, but she tried as hard as she could.

* * *

 _She was sitting under a palm tree atop a clifftop, staring out at the Great Sand Seas of Vacuo. The afternoon sunlight beat down across the landscape, causing the dunes to shimmer with a heated glowed, shifting ever so slowly with the changing winds. Below her, the city bustled with life, persons of both human and faunus nature mingling with their midday business. Sighing contentedly, the heiress reached into the nearby picnic basket and pulled out a single cookie. She raised it and took a small bite._

 _Weiss moaned quietly as she took in the glorious chocolate-chip flavor. For so long she had denied herself the simple pleasures like this. If it wasn't for a certain someone, she feared that she may have never truly experienced this bliss. That certain someone was sitting to her left on the picnic blanket, an arm around the heiress' waist as she giggled lightly._

" _Weiss, I know cookies are awesome, but I don't think you're supposed to be making love to them while eating!" Ruby Rose said, a huge grin spreading across her face._

" _Ruby Rose, you shut your mouth right now! I'll have you know this is the perfect response to eating your cookies. Especially after it's been months since I last had them." Weiss huffed as she looked away. "Besides, what did I say about making sex jokes with food while I'm eating?"_

" _Aw, come on, cut me some slack Princess! Yang does this all the time and you don't get on her case about it!" Ruby whined, tightening her grip on the heiress' waist._

" _I know, and what did I say regarding Yang?"_

" _Uh, that she's a…uhhhhh…'disgusting, obnoxious brute with poor manners and poorer taste, and that you've given up on trying to civilize her?'" Ruby said, counting off to some imaginary list on her fingers. "Oh, and 'you have no idea how Blake has learned to live with her and likely never will?'"_

" _That is exactly correct, and therefore you should know better than to be a brute like your sister." Weiss stated, returning to the cookie at hand._

" _Weiss, that's not fair, she's my sister after all. Besides, even I can tell you why Blake puts up with her so well." Ruby leaned in closer. "Its cause Blake has a 'kitty'," Weiss opened her mouth to object as Ruby began to whisper seductively, "and Yang knows how to…take care of her 'kitty' really well." Ruby nearly purred into the heiress' ear._

 _Weiss jumped out of Ruby's grasp, spitting chunks of cookie as a blush involuntarily rushed to her cheeks. Ruby, on the other hand, was rolling on the blanket laughing, tears forming in her eyes. "Weiss, ohmygod, ahahahahaha, your face is just, oh Dust, that's so f-f-funny, hahaha!"_

" _Well, excuse me for wanting to maintain a little decorum and decency here!" Weiss sputtered out, trying to do her best at staying mad, but it was oh so hard to be truly angry when it came to her Ruby. The crimson girl in question stood up as well, wiping away the remaining tears as she giggled. It was still hard to believe just how much her partner had grown since they had first met. Even though the crimson reaper still hadn't changed her clothing much, the change in height over the last six and a half years had forced Ruby to change to a longer skirt that came to just below her knees Meanwhile the growths in…other places had forced her to exchange the corset for looser fitting tops instead, lest she take too much after her older sister. Her black and red hair had grown longer as well, tied in a ponytail that reached down between her shoulder blades. Her red cape was still ever-present, the signs of time and wear showing in the frayed edges. While there were still bags under her eyes from many sleepless nights, her irises still shown with the same molten silver as always, full of life and love._

 _Weiss, to her credit, had changed even less. Given that she had not really grown any taller and her other measurements had only barely shifted, there was little that needed to be altered. The only major difference was the change from a combat skirt to a dress bottom that reached just above her ankles. The dress had an opening at her left side, revealing white gym shorts underneath while she was in a combat stance. Yang had always given her grief over this, stating that if she was going be a tease about it, she might as well go the whole way. Groaning internally at the thought, Weiss scowled at her partner to signal her displeasure._

" _Weiss, we've been doing this for years. You've gotta let up eventually." Ruby said, a soft smile replacing the mischievous grin she had._

"… _It has been a long time, hasn't it? 4 years now if I remember correctly." Weiss mused with a fond look in her eyes._

" _Oh please, you can't fool me Princess, I know you've been counting the days down to the minute." Ruby jested lightly. Weiss rolled her eyes; it was true, she had been keeping track, ever since Ruby had asked her out so many years ago._

" _I'll have you know Dolt, I've been very busy recently. I've barely been able to remember our dates anymore." Weiss teased. It was a lie and they both knew it, causing them both to giggle lightly at the thought of Weiss Schnee forgetting anything ever._

 _Ruby was the first to calm down, the soft smile returning once more to her beautiful face. "Weiss I…I've got something I've been wanting to talk to you about." The crimson reaper said, a slight blush coming to her cheeks. Weiss raised a single eyebrow, her universal sign to continue._

" _Well, you see, I've been think about you, and me, and us, a-a-and how long we've been together, but like together-together, not just like hanging out you know, and about what you mean to me, and what I mean to you, I think, er, well yeah, and I just thought that maybe, well…" Ruby trailed off, her cheeks growing redder by the minute while her hands wrung themselves together. Weiss' other eyebrow shot up. "Ruby, what are you saying?"_

 _The heiress' question caused her girlfriend to stop talking for a moment. Ruby took a deep breath, as if to steady herself. Still confused, Weiss watched as she went down onto one knee, her hand reaching to her back pocket. "Weiss, what I'm…trying to say is…well, I love you. More than anything in the entire world. I wanted you to know this, and, well, I figured this was the best way to do it." Ruby said, pulling her hand back to reveal a small black box. Weiss' hands shot to her mouth as her partner opened it to reveal two rings, glittering white and red in the afternoon light. "I know I can't offer you much, but I promise to give you all that I am, for as long as I live. Weiss Schnee, would you marry me and make me the happiest woman on Remnant?"_

 _Weiss felt the tears flow forth against her wishes. "Yes, yes Ruby, a million times yes!" As soon as she said it, she immediately pulled her love up into the deepest kiss she had ever given, trying to impart every ounce of her elation at once. The two stood there for a moment, framed by the setting sun, tears of joy glittering on their cheeks…_

* * *

Weiss felt her breath slowly come back under control as she gripped the ring on her necklace chain, memories of better days coursing through her mind. Yang and Blake had jumped out of the bushes behind them only a moment later, scaring the daylights out of them both. After effectively calming the heiress down, they had all gathered in one of their famous team hugs in congratulations. She and Ruby had been married only a week later, a relatively simple affair but, given the circumstances at the time, it could not have been more beautiful to Weiss' eyes. It was her most treasured memory, to be sure.

It also caused her the most pain, given what she had lost since that day. And pain helped her focus, sharpened her mind with purpose. Almost immediately, her glyphs began moving once more, layering on the final touches to her masterpiece. _I will finish this, for them, for all of them._ Weiss thought stoically.

 _For Ruby._

A bright golden flash pulled Weiss from her thoughts, signaling the end of a year's worth of labor. The cube was complete, with absolutely no imperfections remaining. It glowed with energy, barely restrained by calculations written into its very existence, seeming to shimmer with untapped potential. The infinitely spiraling clocks had begun to tick, snowflake arms counting time into oblivion as her smaller glyphs disappeared.

Weiss took a deep breath as she prepared the next step. Slowly, she summoned into being a familiar glyph under the cube. A glyph of Time Dilation appeared, its clock face rapidly ticking away. The cube shuddered in response before sinking into the glyph, its infinitely complex Dust makeup fusing into her Semblance. The clock face of the glyph began to slow as more of the cube was fused with it, until the process was complete. The clock on the glyph stopped, standing completely still. For a moment Weiss couldn't breathe, wondering if she had made a miscalculation somewhere. As soon as the thought finished, though, the clock began to spin counter-clockwise, as if counting back time (which was the idea, she noted). It began to spin faster and faster, reaching the point where the various arms could no longer be seen. The air itself being to spin, causing a small vortex above the glyph. Just as it felt that as though the glyph had reached its maximum speed, it stopped abruptly, flinging various papers and small items about the room. The hands rested on the 12 position precisely, and though there was no date shown, Weiss knew exactly when it was referring to, memories unbidden rising to her thoughts once again.

* * *

" _Weiss, I dunno, I've got a bad feeling about this." Yang grimaced as she looked at the spinning clock glyph on the ground._

" _For the last time, you oaf, it's perfectly safe. Time Dilation is easy enough to do, and there are little to no side effects when done correctly!" Weiss scolded at the blonde brawler. "Blake did this not so long ago, and she has been perfectly fine!" The heiress gestured to the raven-haired faunus sitting on the wall, who only raised a thumbs up in response as she continued to read. Ruby was bouncing on her heels next to her, anxious for her turn in the 'spinny clock face of super powers!' as she often referred to it._

" _I dunno, Blakey's been even quieter than usual since her turn, I think this might be a bad idea." Yang stated, rubbing the back of her neck. "Besides, I'm already tough enough as it is. I don't think being faster than I already am when I'm Yang-ry would be very fair to everyone else."_

 _Weiss' eye twitched at yet another poorly placed pun while Yang only grinned. "For. The. Last. Time. Get in the bloody glyph, nothing will go wrong!" She yelled, pointing to the ground._

* * *

And to her credit, nothing had gone wrong that day. Yang had still avoided using her time glyphs for some time, saying it was 'unnatural' to have her punching people faster than Monty intended. Weiss made a mental note as she stood up to apologize to herself for ruining the presentation and likely scaring the blonde bomber from the glyphs forever. Dusting herself off, Weiss turned to look at the mirror in her room.

Where there had once been so much life, Weiss only saw the weight of tragedy and grief. The bags under her eyes were extremely noticeable, and her cheeks had hollowed out even more than normal due to the lack of eating correctly. Her mechanical eyes stood out the most, the irises automatically dilating to match her intended viewing target, her scar ever-present. Her dress bottom was still there, though it showed the signs of wear and tear through multiple holes and frayed edges. Around her waist were two intertwining sashes, one magenta and the other bright pink. Just above on her belt, a bronze headdress was clipped to a holding ring, next to her Myrtenaster in its holster. Above this she wore a simple white low cut shirt and her trademark bolero, letting her somewhat developed assets show. A single white and yellow shoulder pad was clipped to her right arm. Resting around her neck was an orange scarf that showed some singe marks on various parts. Her hair was in a low ponytail that hung over her left shoulder, tied together with a single black bow in the back. Finally, across her shoulders floated the remnants of a red cape, reaching down to her waist before the signs of age and fraying showed.

In a previous time, Weiss knew she would never have been caught wearing such mis-matched clothing, even in private. Now, these mementoes where the only thing reminding her to keep going, especially on the harder days. Sighing, Weiss attempted to smile at herself, an expression she hadn't made in nearly a year as well. The sudden soreness in her cheeks only served to remind her of this.

 _Well, I suppose it's now or never._ Weiss straightened out the wrinkles in her dress for a moment or two, before taking a deep breath. Turning around, she walked forward slowly, until the still clock glyph was directly beneath her. She could feel the power held with, stopped only by the numerous calculations and limitations she had put into it. Breathing out slowly, Weiss mentally released the limiters as she closed her eyes. She could almost feel reality collapsing in on itself as the light grew every brighter, visible even through her tightly closed eyelids. _I will do this right. I will fix this. I will save them all._

 _I will save them all…_

* * *

Weiss' eye twitched at yet another poorly placed pun while Yang only grinned. "For. The. Last. Time. Get in the bloody glyph, nothing will go wrong!" She yelled, pointing to the ground.

At that exact moment, everything went wrong, as the glyph began to spin at almost impossible speeds. The vortex it caused blew the wind around violently, causing dust to fly about. Almost as soon as the whole thing started, the glyph came to an abrupt halt, causing a small burst of air as the vortex released itself. The clock face stood stock still, all the arms pointing to the 6 position. Blake and Ruby made their way over to the other two, the leader helping Weiss up after she had stumbled from the wind.

"Well…that was a thing." Yang said with a chuckle. "Glad it's over now."

Then the glyph exploded.

* * *

Weiss took a moment to steady herself. Time travel had not been nearly as disturbing as she had been made to believe, though the sudden shift in atmosphere, temperature, and general environment was enough to throw her balance off. Taking another deep breath, the heiress took in the taste and smell of the school, with paper, food, and the nearby bay confirming that she had travelled to the right location. Opening her eyes, she was greeted with a golden dust cloud drifting out of her view. Behind it, she saw the stands of the Beacon sparring hall, the seats empty. Stretching momentarily, Weiss took a step forward. She knew what she had to do and where she needed to go, and would not waste any time on her mission.

"Ice Queen, I thought you said nothing was gonna happen!" Yang yelled out. Weiss froze mid-stride, her heart pounding in her chest. _You're going to be okay. You've prepared for this, you just need to leave now. Go. Go already, keep walking!_ Her limbs refused to obey her frantic appeals though, as she stood stock-still.

"Oh shut up would you! You can't honestly expect me to believe that a _Time Glyph_ would explode right? How could I have possibly planned for something that can't happen you oaf?" Weiss winced slightly. She knew she had been…abrasive when they were younger, but the sarcastic screech she heard was far worse than she remembered.

"Guys, I think there's somebody there." Blake stated, followed by a small cough. _Now is your chance, they don't recognize you, you need to go, please just move!_ Weiss pleaded with herself, her eyes shut tightly. Still her body betrayed her, refusing to yield and run away like she wanted.

"Ohmygosh, your right Blake! Hey, uh, you there, are you okay?" _Please no, not her, I can't…_ "Hey, can you hear me? Hello?" _I thought I was ready, but I can't, I have to go, please no…_ "Hey, is everything al…right…uhhh…"

Weiss felt a small gust of air accompany these words, causing her eyes to open involuntarily. Her heart stopped as her vision auto-focused on the person in front of her, their long red cape trailing off while rose petals fluttered lightly on the breeze. The heiress saw the gaping face of a 15-year old Ruby Rose, their eyes meeting in equal pictures of shock.

Weiss couldn't stop herself even if she wanted to. She lunged forward, wrapping the young crimson girl in a tight embrace, as though she would disappear if the heiress let go.

Weiss sobbed, the emotions of so many years of grief laid themselves to bare. She cried, but there were no tears.

* * *

 **I lied. There was sadness. I'm sorry, I should have known, I'm basically incapable of letting these characters be happy for more than a few paragraphs.**

 **I'm not gonna lie, I don't know why this theme doesn't come up more often. Time travel is pretty common here, and Jaune and Ruby tend to do most of it from what I can tell. Weiss, however, is the only person in the show to even mention timey-wimey stuff, and calls it Time Dilation specifically with Winter. This stuff basically writes itself!**

 **Like the summary said, this takes place after Vol 3, which means from Older Weiss' perspective, all that (and so much more btw) happened. This also means the general plot of the villians will be fairly similar to the show, since it all already happened/is happening/will happen...ow.**

 **If you've read Remnant's Reclaimer, you may feel that this story is kinda similar (and if you haven't read it, do so, Remnant's Reclaimer is AWESOME). And in some ways, you're right. After all, it's a story about a time-travelling character who comes from a grim future to right the wrongs of the past. However, I hope to really own this particular story, partially due to how the story will play out, and partially due to the fact that it's from the Weissicle's perspective. I've got a whole thing lined up for this, and by the next chapter things are going to be fleshed out even more, giving this story a solid arc to follow.**

 **Finally, if your reading my other story, Rebuilding a Rose...I promise I'll have the next chapter out soon. I just really felt the urge to write this, and well, I was unable to resist the urge. On the plus side, if you like my writing, you'll now have 2 stories to follow. Yaaaaaaay!**

 **Anyways, I gotta go get started on the next chapter and do the other story as well. As always, please like, comment, and subscribe...er wait, no, wrong website. *ahem***

 **As always, please follow, favorite, and review to your heart's desire (I did it)! See you next time in:**

 **Chapter 2: First Steps in New Snow**


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